If countries spend 3.5% or 5% on defense, “we understand that you’re going to need to indigenize a large fraction of that production,” Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, said at a Feb. 13 side event of the Munich Security Conference.

“Otherwise people in Germany or Poland or whatever are going to say: ‘Why are we only sending money across the Atlantic?’”

The United States over the past 30 years has typically been skeptical or opposed to policies that prioritize European manufacturers for defense projects while limiting American participation.

Colby cited “a different attitude now,” with the fundamental U.S. interest in having allies that do more for their own security.

Europe should carry the main burden for its conventional defense, Colby said at a NATO meeting in Brussels on Feb. 12, just ahead of the annual Munich gathering, adding the U.S. wants “partnerships, not dependencies.”

Washington will continue to provide its nuclear deterrent, and “in a more limited and focused fashion,” conventional capabilities that contribute to NATO defense, according to the Pentagon policy chief, who has been a proponent of the shifting the U.S. focus away from Europe.

Europe accounted for 35% of U.S. arms exports in the 2020-2024 period, as imports of weaponry by European NATO members more than doubled in the period from the previous four years, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. supplied 64% of those arms imports in 2020-2024, SIPRI says.

The U.S. is trying to grow its defense industrial base, and the Defense Department is “fully in line with that,” Colby said in Munich. Demand for defense equipment is “enormous” and will be sustained, and while the U.S. will try to capture market share and has leverage and assets, “that’s going to be a pragmatic conversation,” Colby said.

As the U.S. pushes Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense, “the whole attitude is different,” including with regards to the European Union having a role in supporting defense, Colby said.

The EU has stepped up its involvement in defense response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including with a €150 billion ($178 billion) loan program for joint defense procurement that requires at least 65% of the component costs to be from Europe, Canada or Ukraine.

“If there’s going to be large fiscal moves, we understand that some of that’s going to go through the European Union,” Colby said. “We’ll work with that. That’s kind of up to Europe to decide. Again, that gets to that partnership, not dependencies idea.”

EU member states had been forecast to spend €381 billion on defense in 2025, up 63% from five years earlier, according to data from the bloc.

Modern conflicts will be “wars of production,” as demonstrated by the war in Ukraine, and that requires a defense industry that can produce for the U.S. as well as for allies, Colby said in a separate panel at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14.

“I would say we’re also very supportive of our allies growing their defense industrial base, and that’ll put us on a long-term trajectory,” Colby said. ‘We’re confident that this will be the recipe for stability, but also deterrence and defense.”

NATO allies agreed in The Hague last year to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, including 3.5% of GDP on “core defense.”

Spain has been the only ally to reject the 5% target, saying it can achieve NATO capability targets with lower spending. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in Munich that level of spending “at the end of the day” will make Europe more dependent on the U.S. defense industry.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, who sat on a panel with Sánchez on transatlantic security, pushed back, saying his country is “hopefully a security provider rather than a security consumer.”

Stubb said Finland faces a Russian security threat, so “when NATO’s defense expenditure goes up to 5%, when America asks us to take more responsibility for our own defense, as a Finn, I’m actually quite pleased with that.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said reaching 3.5% spending by 2035 might be too late, and the target should be reached in 2030, “and maybe it won’t be enough.”

NATO capability targets currently don’t reflect the High North and Arctic region, according to Frederiksen. Many of the capabilities needed for the region haven’t been produced yet, and production lines in the U.S. and Europe “are not really replying to the needs we have.”

WASHINGTON, LONDON and PARIS — Several nations have announced their contributions to Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new multinational security initiative in the Middle East to help protect merchant ships in the Red Sea area from drones and missiles.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin formally announced the effort Dec. 18, after previously hinting that collective action is required to protect civilian ships in the region.

To date, Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched at least 100 attacks with one-way drones and ballistic missiles, targeting 10 merchant vessels that represent more than 35 different nations, according to a readout of a virtual meeting between security group participants.

“Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity,” Austin said Dec. 18.

He noted this effort will fall under the purview of the Combined Maritime Forces — a multinational maritime partnership based in Bahrain — and its Task Force 153. The CMF is made up of 39 nations, and its various task forces help secure the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Some task forces also focus on countering piracy across the region as well as and training and partner-building activities.

About 20,000 commercial vessels transit the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden every year, according to the French Navy. Task Force 153 specifically covers the Red Sea and was established in 2022 to address human trafficking and smuggling of both legal materials like coal and illegal weapons and drugs, Defense News previously reported.

The readout of Austin’s meeting noted that task force “could be leveraged to deter attacks under the CMF,” but the Defense Department declined to provide additional information.

Here are some details about forces participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Britain

Britain has committed a Type 45 destroyer equipped with air defense weapons to the international task force.

The Defence Ministry announced Dec. 19 the destroyer HMS Diamond will lead the Royal Navy’s contribution to Operation Prosperity Guardian.

HMS Diamond has been in the region for a little more than two weeks and moved to the Red Sea on Saturday. It was almost immediately called into action to shoot down a suspected Houthi drone aimed at a commercial ship in the area. This was first time the Royal Navy shot down an aerial target since the Gulf War in 1991.

“This is an international problem that requires an international solution. That is why HMS Diamond has joined Operation Prosperity Guardian,” Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said while announcing the work with the security group.

British forces have been on hand with a small fleet of ships in the region. For example, the military operates a flotilla out of Bahrain that includes the frigate HMS Lancaster, three mine-hunting vessels and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship.

Italy

Italy will do its part to counter “destabilizing terrorist activity” by sending the multimission frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea, the country’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and Austin discussed maritime security in a video call Tuesday, including options for securing shipping routes to avoid economic repercussions and “dangerous impacts” on commodity prices.

“It’s necessary to increase the presence in the area in order to create the conditions for stabilization, to avoid environmental disasters and also to avoid a resurgence of the inflationary push,” Crosetto said in the statement.

France

The French multimission frigate Languedoc has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the southern area of the Red Sea since Dec. 8 to secure freedom of navigation, the French Navy said in a Dec. 15 statement.

The Languedoc shot down two drones coming from the direction of Yemen that appeared hostile on the second day of its patrol duty. The frigate destroyed a drone threatening the Norwegian oil tanker Strinda on Dec. 11, before moving in to protect the stricken tanker and prevent a hijacking, according to the Navy. A fire aboard the Strinda was brought under control without injuries.

Norway

Norway will dispatch as many as 10 staff officers to the Combined Maritime Forces, the Norwegian Defence Ministry said.

Marita Isaksen Wangberg, a ministry spokesperson, told Defense News the country isn’t sending any vessels.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands plans to contribute two staff officers to the operation. The country doesn’t have any vessels in the area at this time, and the contribution of ships is under review, Navy spokesperson Alex Kranenburg told Defense News.

Spain

Spain has not made a decision regarding its participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Defence Ministry’s spokesperson, Nuria Fernández de la Fuente, told Defense News. Any participation by Spain, the representative added, would not be unilateral but within the framework of NATO or the European Union.